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data dog

How many Americans eat breakfast in the morning? That depends on
how you define breakfast. (No, "the most important meal of the day"
isn't going to do it.) For example, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals
(www.barc.usda.gov/bhnrc/ foodsurvey/home.htm) found that about 85
percent of Americans eat breakfast. For the purposes of the survey,
the USDA defines the meal simply as an "eating occasion" (a
discrete time when someone eats and/or drinks) which is
characterized by the respondent as "breakfast." That's casting a
fairly wide net, of course. By this definition, breakfast could be
eggs Florentine, a half-empty box of Milk Duds, even an
accidentally swallowed swig of Listerine.

In its executive summary of the effects of the School Breakfast
Program (www.usda.gov/fcs/oae/sbpexsum.htm), the USDA finds no
clear, consistent definition of the word across the "literature of
breakfast consumption" (which, by the way, is an elective course at
many colleges). Properly defining the word is a crucial step in
evaluating the success of the federal program, which provides meals
in some 70,000 schools nationwide. Nine out of ten students drink
or eat something in the course of a morning eating occasion, but
only six of ten consume food from "at least two of the main food
groups and have breakfast intake of food energy greater than 10
percent of the RDA." That's a big difference- not just in terms of
nutrition but in funding, as well.

The focus on getting kids to eat breakfast is understandable.
The American Dietetic Association reports that skipping breakfast
has an adverse effect on the problem-solving ability of children,
particularly their ability to recall and make use of newly acquired
information. (This means, I suppose, that even a Cap'n Crunch-ing
kid is more likely to solve the riddle on the cereal box after his
breakfast than before he pours on the milk.)

Unfortunately, the USDA's continuing survey found that two of
the three lowest percentages of breakfast-eaters are females aged
12-19 (74.6 percent) and males in the same age group (78.4
percent)-and this is under the self-reported "eating occasion"
definition of breakfast. The lowest percentage among all groups,
oddly enough, are males between 20 and 29 (71.7 percent); by
contrast, 75.1 percent of females ages 20-to-29 eat breakfast. Why
the disparity? Write your own indelicate joke.

However it's defined, what are people eating for breakfast these
days? For the most part, just about anything quick and easy.
According to "U.S. Agriculture-Linking Consumers and Producers"
(www.usda.gov/news/pubs/ fbook97/contents.htm), eggs-those delicate
and cholesterol-laden treats-took a clear hit between 1970 and
1989. Although the decline in consumption leveled off during the
'90s, as retail prices declined and eggs were discovered to contain
less cholesterol than previously believed, they're still
labor-intensive.

The NPD Group's 1994 study on in-home breakfasts
(www.npd.com/corp/press/breakpr.htm) found that ready-to-eat
cereals remain the favorite among breakfast eaters. In fact, the
journal Pediatrics reported in 1998 that cereal is the major source
of children's nutrients (iron, vitamin A, and folic acid). The NPD
study also found that the peel-and-eat banana has supplanted the
slice, section, spoon, squirt-in-the-eye grapefruit as America's
favorite breakfast fruit.

But the Young Turk of the handy breakfast field, according to
U.S. Foodservice magazine (www.usfoodservice. com), is the bagel.
Bagel consumption has increased by 150 percent during the past
decade, leading the trend toward simpler and more convenient
breakfast foods.

Still, there are places where big morning spreads are all the
rage and just about everybody eats: bed-and-breakfast inns.
According to Pat Hardy, spokesperson for the Professional
Association of Innkeepers International
(www.virtualcities.com/ons/paii01.htm), most B&Bs make a habit
of serving "big breakfasts." That's understandable. How many people
would look forward to a romantic weekend at a Cot and Doughnut? And
while handy baked goods like doughnuts and muffins are present at
99 percent of all B&Bs, according to a PAII survey, there's
usually much more: 83 percent offer pancakes and/or waffles; 82
percent lay out meat, cheese, and eggs; and everyone's home
favorite, cereal, shows up in 73 percent of the professionals'
breakfast nooks; 36 percent even offer some sort of regional fare
(huevos rancheros, grits, eggs Newark).

Obviously, the best way for the USDA to ensure that students
regularly eat the right kind of breakfast is to inaugurate the
School Bed and Breakfast Program.